A Second Chance
by wooster182
Summary: After another disappointment from Jesse, a friend helps Betty realize who and what she really wants. BxG, natch.


"Hey there, Super B," Jesse said, putting detergent in the apartment building's washing machine. "I haven't seen you around lately."

"Well, you know," Betty said, shrugging as she put her laundry bag on the table. "I've been working and living." She felt guilty about telling him that, but she wasn't sure why.

Leaning against the vibrating machine, he said, "I've been wanting to thank you for getting me that after-party gig. It's really helped the band out a lot."

She smiled. He didn't notice that it was fake. "I'm really happy for you, Jesse. The band is great."

"Thanks," he said, nodding. "We really feel like we're about to make it."

"Yeah, I do, too," she said, getting more excited. "I just got into this program called YETI—"

"Great, Betty," he said quickly, patting her on the shoulder. "Hey, could you watch my laundry? My new girlfriend's upstairs and I just know she's going to burn our dinner." Her jaw dropped and she mumbled incoherently, but he kissed her cheek and said, "Thanks," leaving her wobbling in the room by herself.

She felt like crying again. She knew that he didn't want her, but there was only so much that she could take. Now she had to watch his laundry—and probably his girlfriend's—until he came back. What had she done with her life? How had she been so stupid?

Her hand came up to feel her cheek. His lips had been cold and passionless, as if kissing an acquaintance he barely knew. But that's who she was, wasn't it? They weren't even friends. She had been waiting like a schoolgirl for him to kiss her and now his touch made her shiver. It wasn't at all pleasing like she had expected. It wasn't like…

"Is this like your building's sex room?" Amanda asked as she bounded into the room like the designer puppy that she was. "Only cold and white?"

Betty rolled her eyes. "It's the laundry room, Amanda."

Amanda's eyes went wide. "You actually clean your own clothes?" Then she cocked her eyebrow, saying, "But that does make sense. I mean if you sent them out, the drycleaner would burn them."

"Thanks, Amanda," she said as she sat down next to the table, sighing.

"Betty, are you okay?" she uncharacteristically asked, knowing that she had seen Jesse come out of the room.

"He has a girlfriend," Betty said vaguely, but Amanda knew what she meant. "I am so stupid."

Amanda jumped up onto the shaking washing machine. "You kind of are."

Betty gave her an irritated look. "Gee, thanks. I've got some empanadas upstairs. Maybe you should go eat them."

Ignoring her last statement but having every intention to later go upstairs and do so, Amanda said, "If someone loved me so much as he loves you, Betty, I wouldn't have let him go."

Shaking her head, she said, "Jesse's made it very clear that he doesn't love me. He barely knows I exist unless I'm helping him out."

Her eyes getting serious, her voice dropped when she said, "_Betty_, I'm not talking about Jesse."

Betty looked away and said quietly, "Oh."

"Why did you let him go, Betty?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know. No man had ever looked at her the way Gio looked at Betty and she desperately wished that someone would, that Daniel would. "You liked him. I know you did."

She nodded. She couldn't deny it. Of course she had liked Gio. She still did. "But I used him to get over Henry," she said. "I led him on. How could I stay with him knowing how I treated him?"

"Betty, if you liked him, it's not leading him on." She leaned over, looking her in the eye. "How many people find at our age what you found in Gio? I'm not sure I ever will."

"Amanda," Betty said softly.

Waving her hand, she said, "No, don't. I didn't say it for me. I said it for you."

Betty looked down at her hands resting in her lap. "There's nothing I can do about it now. I broke his heart."

Amanda whipped her head so that her hair flew behind her shoulders. "You threw a party for a guy you barely know. You wouldn't fight for Gio if you really wanted him?"

Betty could feel a spark deep within her lighting. She smiled. "I will. I'll fight for Gio. Thanks, Amanda!" she shouted as she rushed out of the laundry room.

"Betty?" Amanda whined nervously. "What am I supposed to do with the clothes?"

"Fold them!" she yelled, running down the hall. She had had an epiphany. She had been chasing after the wrong man for weeks. She was lying to herself to forget how much she missed Gio and had regretted how she treated him. But now she could fix it.

She had to fix it.

TBC


End file.
